rW.W. Rostow and the Stages of Economic GrowthOne of the key thinkers in twentieth century Development Studies was W.W. Rostow, an American economist and government official. Prior to Rostow, approaches to development had been based on the assumption that "modernization" was characterized by the Western world (wealthier, more powerful countries at the time), which were able to advance from the initial stages of underdevelopment. Accordingly, other countries should model themselves after the West, aspiring to a "modern" state of capitalism and a liberal democracy. Using these ideas, Rostow penned his classic Stages of Economic Growth in 1960, which presented five steps through which all countries must pass to become developed and these are traditional society, preconditions to take-off, take-off, drive to maturity, and age of high mass consumption. The model asserted that all countries exist somewhere on this linear spectrum, and climb upward through each stage in the development process: Traditional Society: This stage is characterized by a subsistent, agricultural based economy, with intensive labor and low levels of trading, and a population that does not have a scientific perspective on the world and technology. Traditional societies are marked by their pre-Newtonian understanding and use of technology. These are societies which have pre-scientific understandings of gadgets, and believe that gods or spirits facilitate the procurement of goods, rather than man and his own ingenuity. The norms of economic growth are completely absent from these societies Preconditions to Take-off: Here, a society begins to develop manufacturing, and a more national/international, as opposed to regional, outlook. The preconditions to take-off are, to Rostow, that the society begins committing itself to secular education, that it enables a degree of capital mobilization, especially through the establishment of banks and currency, that an entrepreneurial class form, and that...

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...Rostow’s Stages of Modernization
Technological advances happen everyday and in everyplace. As these technologies spread throughout the world, societies are becoming more industrialized. This industrialization will usually occur in four stages. The first is the Traditional Stage. In this stage, people hold on to cultural traditions and refuse to change. These societies are typically poor and their life is focused around communities and they follow well-worn paths. Because of these traditions these people find it hard to imagine life as another way and with little opportunity for advancement, the traditions continue on.
The second stage is called the Take-off Stage. In this stage people start to shake off the traditional family ties and start looking for self advancement. A market emerges as people start to produce goods for trade as opposed to producing them for themselves. Individualism and a stronger achievement orientation take hold.
The third stage is called the Drive to Technological Maturity. In this stage the “growth” that people first discovered in the Take-off Stage is now widely accepted and is the driving force behind a societies’ desire for higher living standards. A diverse economy drives an industrialized people. Unfortunately, people start to realize that the family ties they once held so dear are being eroded away. However, poverty has greatly declined, schooling is available to all people, and knowledge sparks people’s demands for greater...

...KENYATTA UNIVERSITY
UNIT CODE: UCU 101
UNIT NAME: DEVELOPMENTAL STUDIES
LECTURER: MR. MASINDE
TASK: A DISCUSSION OF THE ROSTOW FIVE STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
GROPU MEMBERS
NAME REGISTRATION NUMBER SIGNATURE
NYABUTO MEPHINE BWARI E37/1523/2011 ………………………
BARAZA A. DANIEL E37/1625/2011 ………………………
LUMONYE FAITH JUMA E35S/11325/2010 ………………………
DOUGHLAS NYAKUNDI E37/1509/2011 ………………………
FREDDICK ACHACH E37/1614/2011 ………………………
Rostow’s five stages of Development
This theory was written by Walt Whiteman Rostow. In 1960 he suggested countries go through fairly linearly and set out number of conditions that were likely to occur in investment, consumption and social trends at each state. He also said that a country undergoes transitional periods at varying lengths so as to acquire a stabilized economy. He came up with five linear stages of development. These stages include: traditional societies, precondition to take off, take off, and drive to maturity and finally the age of mass consumption.
Stage 1: Traditional societies
At this stage the economy has a limited production functions thus minimum level of output. However economy’s production level is not static meaning that output level can be increased through cultivation of land.
This stage is characterized by existence of an upper hand that would never be crossed due to lack of application as well as constant development of modern science and technology....

...United Kingdom vs. Saudi Arabia
The United Kingdom is a well-developed state that has a great economy and valued people. In contrast, Saudi Arabia is a developing country that’s economy is based off of oil. Saudi Arabia’s oil reserve is the largest in the world and is the world’s largest exporter of oil. While the UK, has a market-based economy that has extensive social welfare and gives its citizens a high standard of living.
In the 18th century, United Kingdom was the first to industrialize. Now, the UK is has the sixth largest economy in the world. They have GDP per capita of $35,690. Eighty percent of its people are in the tertiary sector, which includes banking, law, education, and government. Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, has a GDP per capita of only $16,620. Sixty percent of working Saudi people is in the secondary sector of industry. Fifty-five percent of Saudi Arabia’s GDP comes form oil.
The United Kingdom’s natural increase rate is .2%, which is tremendous. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia’s NIR is 18.39% which is very high. This shows that the population of Saudi Arabia is growing rapidly. The crude birth rate is 22% for Saudi Arabia compared to UK’s at 12.29. Saudi Arabia was based on Agriculture before the discovery of oil in the 1930s.
Saudi Arabia’s literacy rate for women is 70.8%, which is low. This is because women in the Middle East are not allowed to be literate by their religion. But the UK’s literacy rate is 99%. Education is now mandatory...

...﻿Maltie Jaglal
I.D. No: 810002105
LECTURE 1/SLIDE 18
THEORY/THEORIST: Modernization Theory - Walt Rostow
TOPIC: “‘Traditional’ countries can be brought to development in the same manner more developed countries have.”
According to Walt Rostow, 1960, modernization theory refers to a theory which states that development in developing worlds can be attained through following the processes of development that are used by currently developed nations. WaltRostow postulated a five stage model of development that will be able to apply to all countries.
Rostow’s model is partial and does not take into account certain factors of developing countries. His theory identified problems in developing countries are due to “historical backwardness” without taking into account the historical realities of dependency that characterized the economic past of developing countries. Rostow’s first stage, Traditional Society, identify agriculture as the most important industry, but developing countries, such as Grenada, whose economy is based on exports, are restricted by trade policies and competitions from the international market, so revenue is a challenge. Also, for example Grenada, developing countries, because of their limited land space, cannot be compared to developed large countries who can mass produce. His second stage, Transitional/Precondition for Takeoff, where surpluses for trading emerge, savings and investment grow and entrepreneurs...

...In the 5 stages of the Rostow model, the role of capital investment is greatest during the preconditions to take off stage and take off stage. The amount of investment to countries in the preconditions to take off stage usually comes out to be 5% of their GDP. Many counties reach this stage because of colonization. After they pass that stage, they reach take off, by this stage they are usually independent, manufacturing industries grow rapidly, better transportation needs to be put in, the money for this usually comes from foreign investment (10%-15% of GDP) or borrowing from other countries. In the stages beyond take off, capital investment usually decreases because the country becomes economically self sustainable, meaning that the country it self can manage the costs for its own development.
In order to be pushed into the stage 4 of the Barke and O'Hare model, TNC's play a major role in bring in the investment and skills needed to bring up the standard of living in developing countries. The reason TNC's move to developing countries is because they want cheaper labor, tax concessions and being closer to a growing market. According to the BH model, these TNC's help the developing countries develop, however, in many places this is not the case, the TNC's want the wages to stay low, want the laws to stay relaxed. In China, there are many TNC's such as Nike, McDonald's... Most of the money that is made in these places goes back to the mother country of the...